E1MN, a state-agency partnership
working together to deliver a more seamless and timely
employment support system.
VRS and SSB staff have many important responsibilities,
one of which is helping a person develop an employment plan
and employment goal.
The employment plan must reflect a specific employment goal,
and the employment goal must be expected
to result in competitive integrated employment.
What's unique about supporting people on a waiver
is that the person will likely have worked with a waiver
employment service provider to gather one or more employment
goal ideas before they access VRS or SSB services,
usually during the planning phase.
To support a seamless and timely employment support system,
VRS/SSB staff need to be prepared to review and use
the information the person gathered during the plan phase.
Let's begin by looking at what is gathered during that phase.
Then we'll look at how you can build on that information
during the find phase.
As a reminder, during the plan phase,
the person is getting help to discover their interests
and strengths, and then prepare for a job search.
During this phase, the case manager
will authorize a waiver employment service provider
to facilitate a number of activities
that will help the person identify work goals
and conditions for employment.
The provider will help the person
learn about their strengths, interests, and conditions
for employment by identifying previous employment and life
experiences that were meaningful,
facilitating informational interviews,
conducting workplace tours, and setting up work experiences.
The provider will help a person learn
about the variety of occupations and careers
to find ones that are consistent with the person's strengths,
interests, and conditions for employment.
The provider will also help a person conduct activities
on db101.org to understand their benefits
and what can happen when working.
Lastly, the provider will help the person
explore their transportation options, assistive technology
ideas, and accommodations that will expand employment
opportunities.
You can read more about the service activities in the Work
Toolkit under Supporting people on waivers on the Plan page.
Now let's look at the service outcomes of the plan phase.
The plan phase service activities
lead to several outcomes that VRS/SSB staff
should use when helping a person develop an employment plan
and employment goal.
The first service outcome is work goals.
By the end of the plan phase, the person
will have identified over all work goals that
align with their strengths, interests,
and conditions for employment.
VRS/SSB staff should use these ideas to help a person develop
an employment goal.
Doing this is key to ensuring a seamless and timely employment
support system for people on waivers.
During the plan phase, the waiver employment service
provider will usually help the person do a benefits lookup as
well as a DB101 estimator session that's based
on the person's work goals.
Lastly, the waiver employment service provider
will usually create an employment portfolio.
The employment portfolio is a package of outcome products
that inform the person's job search
and set them up for success in the find phase.
The first page of the employment portfolio
is usually a positive summary, which
is a summary of what was learned during the plan phase.
The person and the waiver employment service provider
will include other tools in the employment portfolio that can
be used during the find phase.
For example, they may include a sample application, a resume,
and an interest profiler that documents the person's
interests, talents, and skills and how they
align with specific careers.
While an employment portfolio is not a requirement of plan phase
services, waiver employment service providers
are encouraged to help a person create one.
During the transition to the find phase,
the waiver employment service provider
will help the person share the employment portfolio
with the VRS/SSB counselor, such as sharing it through My Vault.
You can read more about the plan phase
service outcomes in the Work Toolkit
under Supporting people on waivers on the Plan page.
Now that you know what a person will
have in place at the end of the plan phase,
let's turn to the find phase and look at how you can help
develop an employment goal.
As a reminder, during the find phase,
the focus is on helping a person find a job and initial support
services for the person to become stable in employment.
It's during this phase that the person
accesses VRS/SSB services.
Once a person has completed the application process
and is found eligible for VRS/SSB services,
the VRS/SSB counselor helps the person develop employment plan
and employment goal.
When developing the plan and goal,
VRS/SSB councilors follow the regular VRS/SSB policies.
For example, VRS/SSB staff must conduct
an assessment of the person's vocational rehabilitation
needs to determine a specific employment goal,
just as they do with all people served by VRS/SSB.
Another example is with supported employment.
If the employment goal is expected
to be in a supported employment setting,
VRS/SSB staff must follow the supported employment policies.
In other words, the policies for developing an employment goal
are the same for people on a waiver as they are
for everyone served by VRS/SSB.
What's different about helping a person on a waiver
develop an employment plan and employment
goal is that the person will usually
have an employment portfolio filled
with valuable information.
Once VRS/SSB services begin, as a counselor,
you should carefully review the employment portfolio
if a person has one.
You'll find that the employment portfolio often
contains most of the information you
need to complete the required assessment
of vocational rehabilitation needs.
You'll also find that the employment portfolio provides
a wealth of information about potential employment goals.
You should talk through this information with the person
and use it as you're developing the employment plan
and employment goal.
In some cases, you and the person
may find that the person doesn't have an employment portfolio,
or some additional information is
needed to determine the employment goal.
If that's the case, you can support the person
with additional services.
You can see how the work done during the plan phase
will be invaluable to you and the person
during the find phase.
That wraps up this overview of your responsibility
in helping the person develop an employment goal.
As you saw in this video, by collaborating
with professionals who provided support during the plan phase,
you are helping to achieve the shared vision.
Together, we will work to align our systems so that people
who are on HCBS disability waivers
get seamless and timely support to make informed choices
and meet competitive, integrated employment goals.